Hanging Judge: Leave the referees alone to do their job

At the risk of sounding boring, repetitive and defensive, I want to appeal to the public, players, coaches, managers and club officials to leave the refs to do their job.

It’s not easy. In fact, it’s damn hard. Consider the official for just one moment – he or she acts as judge, jury and executioner, sometimes all in the space of seconds.

I want to concentrate on South Africa and England for this week’s column.

In my adopted country, South Africa, there seems to be a coordinated campaign to gang up on referees and there are few defence mechanisms the “men in black” can use to respond because, under Fifa’s rules, the referees are forbidden from engaging with anyone about their decision(s).

I tend to agree with this line. Although some guys are good with the whistle and are extremely fit and well up with the laws of the game, they might not be what I call media savvy.

Sports reporters are good at catching out an unsuspecting ref or assistant ref, and then all hell breaks loose.

Fifa doesn’t allow refs to be interviewed either before or after the match because a simple question will lead to another and another. It becomes a debate that the ref will most likely lose.

Law 5 states: “ The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.”

And this is also interesting: “The decisions of the referee, and all other match officials, must be respected.”

Yeah, right. What a joke.

The recent incident in which a player was offside and a goal was scored is a case in point. Whether the forward was or was not offside is not the point – if he was offside, the question is why the assistant referee didn’t see it.

The referee can only go on what his assistant tells him with his flag signals and, in this instance, there was no flag.

Then there was the penalty in the Chiefs versus Pirates game recently and many more argued about that. Referees can only do the best they can without the benefit of a video assistant referee (VAR), and the system was not in operation for this particular match. I do not think South Africa has this facility.

I also feel that it’s pointless when people discuss the incident on TV as the referee does not have the benefit of the footage that the so-called experts in the studio have. It serves only to accentuate the problems heaped on the referee.

In England, where they do have VAR, it appears there are still problems.

Let me concentrate on one particular incident in the recent Liverpool versus Manchester City top-of-the-table clash at Anfield, the home of the Reds.

Was it a handball or not? The law says it is the movement of the hand/arm towards the ball and not the ball towards the hand that will determine if the ref gives it or not.

What part of that do managers and players not understand? Answer: They believe whatever is beneficial to them and they sometimes develop selective amnesia in their own interests.

I do believe that referees need to get a hold on things because their control seems to be slipping, and so is the respect for them.

I would like to see match officials nowhere near teams other than where it is absolutely necessary in the execution of their duties. I would ban the handshake at the start of the match because it’s hypocritical and a waste of time.

No sooner has the game started and there’s a decision one or other team disagrees with, and the handshake goes out of the window.

My advice to all referees is just do your job to the best of your ability, and stay as far away from players and club officials as possible.

Please feel free to make comments or ask questions.

Happy whistling!

• sports@citypress.co.za
• thehangingjudge88@gmail.com
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